NJ Customers Dining Out Less
As inflation rocks local restaurants. Last week, Negla Badr stopped in a restaurant in Princeton for breakfast. She ordered a plate of French toast. It was $22. “Why is French toast 22 dollars? I was shocked,” Badr, a business development manager for Barnes and Noble, said with exasperation. “I eat out a lot during my travels, and my food cost has risen a good bit.” Badr is one of countless New Jersey consumers feeling the bite of inflation, especially at restaurants and grocery stores. Industry experts estimate prices of raw goods have risen 40 to 60% due to supply chain and post-pandemic issues. New Jersey restaurants have reported even higher spikes on certain food costs: Beef, eggs and avocados are all double what they cost a year or two ago; chicken is up a crippling 300%. As many restaurants are forced to increase menu prices to make ends meet, some New Jerseyans say they have cut down on eating out or nixed the luxury altogether. They are also looking for ways to save at supermarkets, though finding trouble there, too.
Brewery Owners, Restaurants Spar Over How to Fix NJ’S Licensing Rules
NJ’s strict regulations keep the industry from flourishing. The drawn-out fight over whether the brewery industry is hampered by onerous regulations continued Thursday during a committee meeting discussing legislation aimed at brewery license holders. Brewery owners, bartenders, and restaurateurs packed the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee hearing, where lawmakers heard a discussion of three bills — one to codify new rules and regulations for breweries, another that would increase the number of events breweries can hold annually and allow them to coordinate with food vendors, and a third to permit license holders to hold an unlimited number of on-premises special events while also creating a farm-brewery license. In Pennsylvania and New York, breweries are allowed, sometimes required, to sell food. But current New Jersey statute limits breweries to prepackaged chips and crackers. Organizers of any private events have to bring their own food and must take it when they leave. Breweries are also limited to 25 public events a year and 52 private parties and are limited in how they can advertise. Current laws also restrict how much beer they can brew in one year. Some of the bills discussed Thursday overlap, but they all seek to increase the number of events a brewery can host; allow breweries to sell coffee, other small snacks, and non-alcoholic beverages; and do away with the requirement to provide a tour to visitors before they drink on site.
How to Avoid a Flood of Litigation Pitfalls
As restaurants return to new normal. People are busy again and the humming of the wheels of the industry are gaining momentum as an increasing number of workers return to their offices. This reality also means that litigating issues affecting the restaurant and hospitality industry are mounting. It is no secret that the pandemic has bred woeful labor shortages in the foodservice industry and those laborers that the industry has been able to secure or retain are arguably now more informed than ever about their rights. A fact that is strengthened by the courts system. Consequently, our firm, Meister Seelig & Fein LLP, is seeing an increase in the filings of wage issues both inside and outside the restaurant industry from weekly wages issues to improper tip credit issues, and non-payment of overtime. We are faced with the whole gambit of wage and hour claims being asserted. Plus, there is definitely an optic whereby people are taking advantage of the courts again. What this means is that restaurateurs must ensure that all their ducks are lined up neatly in a row. There are several practices that simply must become second nature. Those non-negotiables include always issuing notices of pay rate and payday. Your pay stubs must be state-compliant. Employees must be paid on a weekly basis. Time must be tracked accordingly to properly allot time in paying overtime and make sure that you are properly applying the tip credit and only taking the tip credit for those employees who are eligible.
Avoiding Labor Shortages in Restaurants
This cold and flu season. t’s no secret restaurants are continuing to struggle to find adequate help. With the cold and flu season looming on the horizon, things are not expected to get much better. However, restaurant owners and managers who prepare now can be well-equipped to avoid labor shortages in the future (and handle them if they do occur). Making it through this season without major gaps in staffing requires you to focus on keeping your employees healthy and happy. Here are four actionable strategies that professionals in the restaurant industry can implement to keep their operations running smoothly for customers. Health anxiety can be a significant reason for labor shortages during the cold and flu season, especially with the added threat of COVID-19 in recent years. Following the many shutdowns and public health announcements at the height of the pandemic, most of the public is highly aware of how quickly illnesses can spread. While some employees may simply check their symptoms a little more regularly, others may experience significant health anxiety that causes them to withdraw from work. To keep employees happy and healthy—both physically and mentally—it’s important for restaurant owners and managers to put extra safety precautions into place during cold and flu season. For example, while enhanced sanitization may require a little more cleaning, this effort can prevent a lot of illnesses that lead to long-term shortages.
Puttshack Gets $150M from Blackrock
To put its minigolf concept everywhere. Puttshack, the minigolf-centric eatertainment concept founded by the creators of Topgolf, on Thursday said it has received a $150 million investment from funds managed by BlackRock. The funding will help the six-unit brand build more locations quickly. “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind,” CFO Logan Powell said in an interview. “It’s really good fuel for the business. We want to make sure we’re set up for success over the long term.” The Chicago-based brand operates a technology-fueled concept that combines a restaurant with minigolf, including Trackaball technology that enables automated scoring, using Bluetooth and GPS. Puttshack, the minigolf-centric eatertainment concept founded by the creators of Topgolf, on Thursday said it has received a $150 million investment from funds managed by BlackRock. The funding will help the six-unit brand build more locations quickly. “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind,” CFO Logan Powell said in an interview. “It’s really good fuel for the business. We want to make sure we’re set up for success over the long term.” The Chicago-based brand operates a technology-fueled concept that combines a restaurant with minigolf, including Trackaball technology that enables automated scoring, using Bluetooth and GPS.
Off-Premise Sales Have Settled
That should impact your plans. On Friday, my newly teenaged son did what he does well and that is to request a last-minute change to our nightly menu. Fifteen minutes ahead of me breaking out the steaks I planned to grill on that surprisingly nice October evening, I instinctively knew what was coming. Typically, there is a 50% chance that this change in the menu will involve some form of Korean cuisine. It could be BBQ, perhaps a Kimchi burger or Bulgogi. The other 50% of the time he asks for sushi, pizza, a chain burger, or some international cuisine. That last one was seemingly picked at random, with the sole purpose of testing his dad’s food-sourcing capacity. But with my folder of food delivery apps at the ready, I felt prepared for the challenge. That’s the power of the 3rd party ordering apps. They solve the customer search problem in the most efficient way possible. I can satisfy the whims of a grumpy teen or his even grumpier data quickly with them. I can find something new. Read a review. Do it all in one space. When I was a grumpy teen, I was stuck with the limited consideration set defined by the roads and highways of my town. Now that competitive landscape is folded together in a searchable screen. No car required, at least my car wasn’t on this day. With that type of decision-making power, it’s no wonder restaurants are gearing up to evolve their businesses in dramatic ways. They’ve spent the past couple of years investing in digital infrastructure to capture the type of cravings driven demand I just described. Now they have designs on their physical infrastructure. The need to evolve with those investments is literally putting pressure on the four walls of restaurants.
Pastry Chefs Fear They’re ‘Becoming Extinct’
As restaurant margins shrink. When Kristin Colazas Rodriguez, the former pastry chef at Dominique Crenn’s restaurant Petit Crenn in San Francisco, moved home to Long Beach, California, in 2018, it seemed like there wasn’t a single restaurant hiring a pastry chef. Most places where she considered working didn’t even have a pastry department. Colazas Rodriguez, now the owner of Colossus Bread in Long Beach, shared her frustrations in a series of Instagram Stories in July. “I literally started Colossus because there was nowhere [sic] to work as a pastry cook or chef in this town and I didn’t want to commute over an hour to LA,” she wrote. To her surprise, pastry chefs from all over the country messaged to tell her they felt the same way. Many were in similar situations: in search of a job but unable to find one. This dwindling number of designated pastry chefs has translated to a monotony of desserts on restaurant menus: a blur of made-ahead dishes like panna cotta, ice cream sundaes, crème brûlée, and other offerings that can be prepared in large quantities by someone with little to no pastry experience. Behind the scenes, pastry chefs express feeling overworked, and that they’re being pushed out of the restaurant industry. For many restaurants, dessert simply isn’t enough of a moneymaker to justify investing in a full pastry team or providing pastry chefs with the resources they need. As a result, even pastry chefs who remain employed often lack support and become burned-out.
9 Things To Never Order at an Expensive Restaurant
According to Chefs. So, you’ve decided to hobnob it up at a swanky, upscale eatery. Maybe you’re celebrating a birthday or anniversary or hoping to impress someone on a first date. Perhaps fine dining is your usual fare of choice. Whatever your reason, buckle up because you’re in for a culinary adventure. Artfully prepared dishes, robust wines, creatively crafted cocktails, and decadent desserts await. But just as there are many wonderful items to experience at such a restaurant, there are others that are simply not worth ordering for one reason or another. Don’t believe us? Take it from the chefs who have let us peek behind the curtain. Whether the reason is poor quality, inflated prices, or something else entirely, here are the nine orders you should never make at an expensive restaurant, according to chefs.
Did You Know?
New Jersey now has an official pizza trail. New Jersey is proud of its rich agricultural history, and tomatoes have always played a big role in Jersey Fresh produce from June through October’s harvest,” Jeff Vasser, the executive director of the New Jersey division of travel and tourism, shares with Food & Wine. “As the third largest producer of tomatoes in the entire country, this key pizza-making ingredient not only sets New Jersey’s classic ‘tomato pies’ apart from any ordinary pizza, but also sets our restaurants apart too: the trail is a quick and easy guide for any pizza enthusiast to find the best slice anywhere they may roam in New Jersey.
Employee Tip
Senate cancels planned vote on temporary worker bill. “Temp agencies contract with multiple businesses that offer different benefits packages,” Bailey said. “These packages can encompass everything from 401k matches and health insurance to vacation days and life insurance policies. Calculating and providing payment for the average cost of these benefits packages will be a logistical challenge.
Bielat Santore & Company – Restaurant Industry Alert
BIELAT SANTORE & COMPANY SELLS 3 MORE NJ RESTAURANTS
In the past month, New Jersey’s leading restaurant and hospitality real estate brokerage has sold 3 more restaurants in New Jersey. Barry Bielat just closed on the sale of Rossi’s Bar & Grill in Hamilton, NJ while salesperson Robert Gillis sold Palermo’s in Hamilton, NJ and salesperson David Alvarez sold the Tuscany Brewhouse in West Milford, NJ. The firm is currently working with several Regional Restaurant Companies actively looking for new locations for immediate expansion. These restaurant companies are internally funded, have established banking relationships, are corporately managed and can move expeditiously toward closing on the right locations
Considering the sale of your existing restaurant (including land, building and liquor license)? Call Bielat Santore & Company first; 732-531-4200. Over the past 40+ years, the firm has sold more restaurants and hospitality real estate than any other real estate agency.
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